Pati Jinich is host of the popular Emmy and James Beard nominated PBS series Pati's Mexican Table, author of two cookbooks, and resident chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC. This is her official website where she shares recipes from her show and new recipes in her blog, plus upcoming events, recent news, and more.

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Drunken Rice with Chicken

Drunken Rice with Chicken

Print Recipe

6 to 8servingsArroz Borracho con Pollo

Ingredients

1/2teaspoonsaffron threadscrumbled

2tablespoonsboiling water

6tablespoonssafflower or corn oildivided

6skinless boneless chicken thighs

1 1/2teaspoonskosher or coarse sea saltdivided, or to taste

freshly ground black pepperto taste

2cupslong or extra long white rice

1/2cupchopped white onion

1/2cupchopped green bell pepper

1/2cupchopped red bell pepper

1/2cupchopped tomato

2garlic clovesminced or pressed

Pinch of ground cumin

Pinch of ground cinnamon

2whole clovesstems removed and tops crushed

1cupbeer

3 1/2cupschicken broth

1/2cuppeasfresh or thawed from frozen

To Prepare

Place the saffron threads in a small mixing bowl along with the boiling water. Mix and let soak for 10 to 15 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large and thick casserole over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Once the oil is hot, brown the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove and place in a bowl. Add a couple more tablespoons of oil to the casserole and scrape drippings, don’t remove them though.

Add the uncooked rice and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, until its color starts to change to milky white and the grains separate. Incorporate the onion, green and red bell peppers, tomato and garlic and stir. Add the cumin, cinnamon, crushed cloves, 1/2 teaspoon salt and continue to cook for 4 to 5 more minutes, until vegetables have softened. Pour in the beer, and let it cook and reduce until it is almost absorbed and the alcohol has evaporated, a couple minutes.

Place the chicken pieces on top of the rice, pour the chicken broth on top and the saffron and its liquid, as well as the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and stir. When liquid starts to boil, add the peas and cover the pot, reduce heat to low, and continue cooking for about 20 more minutes, or until the rice is cooked through and the liquid has been mostly absorbed.

If the rice grains don’t seem soft and cooked through, add a bit more chicken stock or water and let it cook for another 5 minutes or so. Turn heat off, and let it sit covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Ingredients

1/2teaspoonsaffron threadscrumbled

2tablespoonsboiling water

6tablespoonssafflower or corn oildivided

6skinless boneless chicken thighs

1 1/2teaspoonskosher or coarse sea saltdivided, or to taste

freshly ground black pepperto taste

2cupslong or extra long white rice

1/2cupchopped white onion

1/2cupchopped green bell pepper

1/2cupchopped red bell pepper

1/2cupchopped tomato

2garlic clovesminced or pressed

Pinch of ground cumin

Pinch of ground cinnamon

2whole clovesstems removed and tops crushed

1cupbeer

3 1/2cupschicken broth

1/2cuppeasfresh or thawed from frozen

To Prepare

Place the saffron threads in a small mixing bowl along with the boiling water. Mix and let soak for 10 to 15 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large and thick casserole over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Once the oil is hot, brown the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove and place in a bowl. Add a couple more tablespoons of oil to the casserole and scrape drippings, don’t remove them though.

Add the uncooked rice and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, until its color starts to change to milky white and the grains separate. Incorporate the onion, green and red bell peppers, tomato and garlic and stir. Add the cumin, cinnamon, crushed cloves, 1/2 teaspoon salt and continue to cook for 4 to 5 more minutes, until vegetables have softened. Pour in the beer, and let it cook and reduce until it is almost absorbed and the alcohol has evaporated, a couple minutes.

Place the chicken pieces on top of the rice, pour the chicken broth on top and the saffron and its liquid, as well as the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and stir. When liquid starts to boil, add the peas and cover the pot, reduce heat to low, and continue cooking for about 20 more minutes, or until the rice is cooked through and the liquid has been mostly absorbed.

If the rice grains don’t seem soft and cooked through, add a bit more chicken stock or water and let it cook for another 5 minutes or so. Turn heat off, and let it sit covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Made Possible by our Sponsors & Affiliates:

Pati's Mexican Table TV series is produced by FRANK. and WETA Washington, DC, and distributed by American Public Television (APT) to public broadcasting stations nationwide. Corporate funding is provided by SAGARPA, MTB, Avocados from Mexico, La Costeña, and FUD USA.

Awesome recipe! Like the one in the cook book with chorizo! That’s my husband favorite and he doesn’t chicken and rice but loves this recipe. We substitute chicken broth for the beer since we are non drinkers.

Ok Pati,
I LOVE your show and you! You are so loveable and your recipes seem amazing! I’m gonna attempt your Aroz borracho con pollo as it looks fantastic!
You cook with a lot of love and your family is blessed to have you!

My best friend is from Toluca and she always talks about growing up in mexico. So I ordere both of your cookbooks so I can suprise her and her husband with some of your delicious food. Can’t wait till the books come. Love you and your show.

Drunken Rice with Chicken: delicious ingredients. However, the dish seemed bland and mild in taste. Could another flavor be added to this dish? I do love many of the recipes on the marathon especially the fish tacos. Hard to get really fresh fish in the midwest but worth a try anyway.

Remember that much authentic Mexican food is not bold in flavor–much of American thinking about Mexican food is influenced by Tex-Mex (which is big, bold and yum, for sure, but not, for the most part, authenitc from the land itself).

I have made this a few times and it gets better each time! I have tried a few different types of beers to see which I like best, but honestly it doesn’t matter because it’s always delicious!!! I love your show and I LOVE your personality and can’t thank you enough for making it so easy and entertaining to cook. My kids love watching your show with my husband and I. And always want to help cook, especially when it’s one of your recipes. 😊

Saw this earlier today on PBS, made for dinner tonight. It was AMAZING! I love how Pati talks about her family and cooking for them on every show. She cooks with love and it is only proven when recipes come out perfect (even when I’m not that great a cook). I need to go buy your books!

I love 💕 this woman as I am a mother of two kiddos love her cooking I live in Kentucky 🇺🇸 and every Friday I wait exciting at 3 pm on my kET local channel to see her new episodes of Cook I love her kitchen her personality I am from Middle East so we have lots common ground together with Mexico 🇲🇽 l love ❤️ visiting Mexico one day to bring lots of spice and beautiful dishes but I can’t unfortunately one day my dream come true

I made this recipe last week, but left out the beer because I forgot to pick it up from the store. It turned out wonderful, even without the beer. The flavors actually reminded me of a middle eastern flavor dish. It was probably the Cinnamon and cloves (I only used a pinch though). Patti, what is the difference between this dish and an Arroz con Pollo recipe? Do you have any other variations I can try? My kids and I love your show!

Oh that is great, Julia! You can think of this recipe as a version of Arroz con Pollo, of which there must be thousands! I will try to add more versions… Meanwhile you can try this recipe, and add chicken to it: https://patijinich.com/recipe/red_rice_from_el_chepe/
Thank you for letting me into your home through my show and recipes!

This was delicious! I hate beer and thought of using white wine instead, but decided to stick with the beer. Glad I did- did not really taste the beer flavor but it did add a depth of flavor to the dish. Also, I did not have saffron and don’t care for the flavor, so used 1/4 tsp turmeric for color. Used a good 1/2 tsp cumin instead of a pinch and added about 3/4 – 1 tsp paprika for addtl flavor and color. Also, added black pepper and red pepper flakes since we like it spicy! I only had red bell pepper, so used 1 whole red bell pepper. Next time will use with green bell pepper per the recipe for addtl color. Also, had 1/2 a whole large onion left over from another meal, so chopped it all up- was probably a full cup. The recipe survived all my changes and was great, so it is pretty full-proof. Next time, I will use a little less liquid and maybe add some more peas. My husband loved it too and did not mind sacrificing some of his fancy craft beer! Thank you Pati for fully testing all of your recipes. I have only made a few of your recipes, but every one of them I have tried have been exceptional and “keepers”.

Pati, using brown rice: should I cut rice to 1 1/2 cups or add 1 cup liquid ? Does 40 – 45 minutes sound right ? Would 300* be about right in the oven , because I burn everything I leave on the stove. Thanks so much.

When my husband buys chicken he buys it in bulk, huge chicken and thighs connected. What can i do different since the chicken is so huge. And this chicken has bone and skin on, plz help cuz i would love to make it.

Pati, I bought a brand new 12″ enamel cast iron braiser to make your Drunken chicken and rice. I was so excited but got disappointed because I was thinking the enamel pan wouldn’t have food stick so bad, my chicken did, I wonder what I did wrong. Then when I covered and put on low for 20 min. rice wasn’t done, help!

Hi Grace! In my experience, sometimes food will stick when the oil isn’t hot enough. Make sure the oil is rippling in the pan before you put the chicken in. Also, if the rice isn’t done after 20 minutes, leave it cooking for a few more minutes until done. I hope this helps and that you will try the recipe again!

Hi Pati! I’m originally from Leon GTO. We watch your show faithfully! We record it so we can rewind and watch as many times as we need to get the process of each recipe right. We doubled this particular recipe so we have enough left over to take to work tomorrow for lunch and make everyone else jealous. The flavors are amazing! Thanks Pati for your cooking inspiration!

I saw this recipe on TV last Saturday and I had to give it a try!
This recipe is easy to make and SO YUMMY!!!!! I made for us last night and it literally flew off the table. Trust me, it will not disappoint! 🙂

Made this without the beer (used an extra cup if broth instead) and without saffron. Might have been good, but I had to run out for a bit right after it finished cooking, so I turned the heat off and left it sitting covered for a couple of hours, which made the rice overcooked. Also had to add a lot more salt because I used low sodium broth. Would love to try it properly made!

I want to try this recipe but I do have a question. I know the recipe is called Drunken Rice With Chicken but can I leave out the beer? I don’t drink or cook with alcohol and neither do most of my friends. I know there is a non alcohol beer can this be used instead or should I just use more chicken stock? The reason I am asking this is because I read recently that the alcohol does not all leave the dish. Thanks for any help you can give me. Love your show!

I want to make this and have never had a chicken and rice recipe of any kind; however, while I’m a carnivore, my husband is a vegetarian. How will this recipe work without the chicken? Seems to me it would still be good, right?

This recipe is delicious! I never leave comments on anything, but felt compelled to do so. My husband loved it. I could not find saffron and I used a whole chicken that I cut up, but other than that I followed it exactly. Love your show.

My 6 year old with down syndrome is picky. She gets so excited and cumbias around when shows music starts. This recipe shes asked for. Could we substitute other cuts of chicken thats boneless n skinless also?